When you believe in the name of Jesus, you believe on One who is God, who has died and rose again, who was born of a virgin, who did walk on water, who ascended into heaven bodily, who is the King of Israel etc. Even if you are not aware, understand, or believe these things.
My daughter believes in me as her "Dad". As her dad I work at a Costco warehouse where I am a merchandiser. She doesn't know what I do there. She doesn't understand. She may even believe that I own the whole store and run it myself!
My daughter believes in me as her "Dad", as the one who provides for her, feeds her, clothes her, shelters her, etc. When she believes in me, she is believing in a man who is a merchant at a Costco, whether or not she knows what I do, have done, or has wild misconceptions about me.
She has trusted me as her dad and I provide for her. The means by which I can provide for her is not the issue. The issue is whether or not she is going to trust me as her dad, trust me for her well-being, and I will provide for her, or is she going to doubt in me, and worry, and be anxious about where she is going to find her well-being.
Jesus purchased a gift with His death and ratified it with his resurrection. He offers that gift freely to the one who entrusts his/her eternal well-being to Him. To understand how he is able to offer this gift and how He has the authority to do so will encourage trust in Him for the gift. But it is not necessary to believe or know those things in order to receive the gift. To believe it is necessary, is to add more provisos and conditions on the gospel offer than Jesus does. Jesus says "Believe in Me and you HAVE eternal life". You believe in the Name, you believe in the Person, you are not asked to believe in individual attributes of the Person, but the Person Himself.
Antonio
Written by Antonio da Rosa in the thread "Elements of Belief Necessary for Salvation?"
2 comments:
Hello:
I would like to share some important details on the kind of message you seem to have appreciated by Antonio da Rosa.
Before you embrace what Antonio wrote there are many more statements by him that identify his view of the Gospel you may find alarming. For example:
“If someone asks me point blank, do I believe that one must believe that Jesus is God in order to go to heaven, I would say ‘NO!’”[1]
“If a JW hears me speak of Christ’s deity and asks me about it, I will say, ‘Let us agree to disagree about this subject.’
At the moment that a JW or a Mormon is convinced that Jesus Christ has given to them unrevokable [sic] eternal life when they believed on Him for it, I would consider such a one saved, REGARDLESS of their varied misconcetions [sic] and beliefs about Jesus.
I would never say you don’t have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. This has the import of the gospel proposition which makes it salvific! If someone asks me point blank, do I believe that one must believe that Jesus is God in order to go to heaven, I would say ‘NO!’”[2]
“If I were talking to a Jew, he may very well ask me about the deity and humanity of Jesus. I would certainly entertain his questions and answer them to the best of my ability. But if such a one continued to express doubts or objections to this, I would say politely, ‘Let us for the time being put this issue on the back-burner. Can I show you from the Jewish Scriptures that the advent of Jesus Christ fulfills many prophecies?’ . . . Objections and denials of things pertaining to Jesus can surely preclude one from faith in Him for eternal life. If this Jew can put aside for the moment the discussion of Christ’s deity, and Christ’s voluntary consent to die, and look in a considerate way at the prophecies concerning Christ’s advent in the Old Testament, His miracles, His teachings, His compassionate acts, His righteous and holy acts, and through consideration of these things, become persuaded that Jesus guarantees his eternal destiny through faith, why would anyone consider him unsaved?”[3]
“I do not believe that one must understand, assent to, or be aware of the historical Jesus of Nazareth's deity in order to simply be justified and receive eternal life. However, I do believe that one must understand the deity of Christ if he is to grow into Christian maturity and merit a future superlative glorification.”[4]
[1] Antonio da Rosa, Free Grace Theology, Believe Christ’s Promise and You are Saved No Matter What Misconception You Hold, (May 2006).
[2] Ibid, bold added.
[3] da Rosa, Free Grace Theology, How I Might Do Evangelism With a Jewish Man, (September 2007), bold added.
[4] da Rosa, Head of Moor, Is This Heresy?, (May 20, 2008), bold added.
See Consistent Free Grace Evangelism?
My hope and desire is that no unsuspecting believers fall into the trap of the REDEFINED Free Grace theology’s “Crossless” interpretation of the Gospel.
LM
One other note:
May I share this article with your guests, Is “ReDefined” Free Grace Theology- Free Grace Theology?
The article will help them understand that Zane Hodges, Bob Wilkin and the Grace Evangelical Society do not speak for and do NOT represent the general population of men who identify themselves as members of the so-called Free Grace community.
Furthermore, the Crossless interpretation of the Gospel is NOT indicitive of the norm in the Free Grace Alliance.
The Free Grace community has been fractured, and it is a good fracture in that large numbers of FG men have withdrawn from GES over the Zane Hodges “Crossless” interpretation of the Gospel.
LM
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